Summer Wildflowers at Point Lobos

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 30 July 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

Summer wildflowers and Monterey Cypress trees grow in the moist environment of Point Lobos State Reserve along the Monterey Bay, California. This image was an HDR combination of 6 images combined with Photomatix Pro 3.0. I then replaced the sky using a single sky image and a mask in Photoshop CS3. Because of the movement in the clouds between the bracketed exposures, Photomatix could not register them as a convincing match. Finally, I optimized the foreground flowers using Nik Viveza. This image was captured in late afternoon light. A single frame exposed for the highlights would have produced blocked-up shadows. Conversely, a single frame exposed for the shadows would have produced blown-out highlights. HDR allows the image to reproduce as the eye would see it. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Photomatix Pro, please use my promotional code at checkout donsmithphotography to receive 15% off your purchase. To learn more about these and other image optimizing techniques, please visit my website at Don Smith Photography.com and click on the Writings/Articles tab.